Smappee.. it’s a good Investment!

Buying a Smappee device at 199, EUR including VAT is financially a good investment. In a previous post, I indicated that the way Smappee provides you insight in your energy usage: real-time feedback with consumption down to the appliance level, will help you save 12% on your energy consumption.

How much savings do I need to pay back my Smappee in 2 years?

Assuming an average energy price of 0,25 EUR per kWh (Day or Night rates, taxes and contributions all together), then a pay back in 2 years will require you to save 100, EUR per year thus reduce your consumption by 400 kWh per year (400 kWh x 0,25 EUR/kWh = 100 EUR).

If this reduction is the result of the 12% savings that can be achieved, how much do we need to consume annually then? Well 400 kWh * 100 /12 = 3333 kWh per year. The average Belgian household consumes even more, 3.500 kWh per year. So this should be possible.

Most of us have a higher consumption than the average of 3500 kWh/year!

Most 4-people-households will even consume 5.000 kWh/year and those who really don’t care about their energy footprint, will easily reach 8.000 kWh/year. And those having a swimming pool, Sauna, Jacuzzi, heat pump will be well above 12.000 kWh/year and generally end up at 20.000 kWh!. Needless to say how quickly you will pay back your Smappee in such case.

How much return do I get on my Savings account?

Payback in 2 years equals an intrest rate of 50%. Not just the first two years, but as long as you continue to use Smappee and manage your energy usage footprint. You’ll earn money with it. Even if you would only be able to save half, still 25% would be achieved. How much does your Savings account return?

No loss of Comfort!

We understand, that people in general don’t want to lose comfort! I why would we? So, don’t stop using your sauna, your pool, etc. because you have a Smappee. Just be aware how much energy they use. Don’t pre-heat your Sauna hours in advance, that’s it. There is a lot of other useless and wasted energy that you can save on; Standby Power for instance!

400 kWh per year (= pay back 2 years). Help me me find them?

There are plenty of ways to save energy: replace old, inefficient fridges, shutdown the fridge in the garage that just hold two beers,..

Another easy source of energy savings can be found by looking at the standby consumption of your appliances. Your TV, Computer, PS console, .. for example. You think they are OFF, but they still consume energy! Normal, the device must be running in standby mode (lower consumption) to receive that InfraRed command from your remote control in order to turn on the rest of the TV. Same for the Computer .. a tap on the keyboard wakes it up. In my case my TV, and Computer each had approximately 30W of standby power!

If you find 50W of standby power that is ON during 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, you’ll have an energy savings potential of: 50W x 24h x 365 days = 438.000 Wh or 438 kWh! (remember at 0,25 EUR per kWh: 438 kWh x 0,25 = 109,5 EUR per year for 50W always on power!

The Bubble screen in the Smappee App shows your actual Consumption (Dark Bubble), your solar or wind production (Green Bubble) and the total Standby Power of all your Appliances in the home (Blue Bubble: 340 W in this screenshot). The standby power of your home is measured by Smappee and updated every day. Smappee wants to be sure you effectively reduced the Standby Consumption and will wait 2 days prior to reduce the Blue Bubble value with the amount of Standby Power you have reduced in your home.Smappee will give you an award each time your reduce your Standby Power by 3% and 10%.

How can I find out how much Standby Power this appliance is using?

It’s simple to measure..

Make sure you don’t have to much activity in the house (cleaning, ironing, etc.) and try to have a steady total consumption in the “Dark Bubble”. The example hereafter shows a value of 1141W as the total power of all your appliances in the house. This is a real-time power value, updated every 5 seconds.

Look at the increase (+59W) and decrease (-59W) of the total power in the house as a result of switching an appliance ON and OFF.

In order to measure the standby consumption, it’s not sufficient to press the OFF button of your TV. As explained previously, it is still taking some power. So take the power cord out of the outlet as this will really shutdown the TV and plug it back in after eg. 30 seconds. Repeat a number of times and watch the power increases and decreases above the dark bubble (or subtract the two total power values from each other 1200W – 1141W = 59W). This will give you the power (or standby power) for this specific appliance, TV, Computer, PS Console, ..

OK, we understand that we should unplug the power of certain appliances. We can use the traditional “red switch power strip” or use Smappee’s Comfort Plug. Read how I reduced the standby power of my multi-room audio amplifier.

I have a multi-room audio system with amplifiers to power 24 by 7 those loudspeakers that are built-in into the ceiling. The power consumption was 40W! By changing the mode (multizone A or AB, etc) of the Amplifier I could bring down that power to 18W. That’s a saving of 40 -18 = 22W for ever! 22W * 24 hours * 365 = 192 kWh per year or 48 EUR!

But I could further optimise the consumption of the 18W. The amplifier is used only a few hours when we’re in the kitchen, listening to the radio, streamed via airplay from our iPad. This is generally when we have breakfast, as we would rather watch TV in the evening. Note that the amplifier is not located in the kitchen, so I can’t use the remote control. We would not want another remote control anyway to turn on that Radio.

Icould have used a traditional Red switch Power strip, but that’s not convenient. I can’t sell that solution to my wife. (go to the technical room where the amplifier is located ..). Strips with wireless control? Could work. But more expensive and this means yet another remote control in the kitchen.

So I used Smappee’s Comfort Plug. The plug is wirelessly controlled by Smappee’s built-in Radio Remote Controller. I let Smappee switch OFF the speakers (the amplifier) when nobody is home. Smappee can detect this based on the level of consumption in the home and the number of appliances that turn on and off (measure of activity).

Smappee’s Inactivity detector: “If Inactivity detected OR consumption under XX then Turn Off Comfort Plug “Radio”) and turn them immediately back on when we need them.

To turn the speakers on when we are in the Kitchen I used the Schedule function, i.e. at 07h in the morning, but it happens that we sleep longer, and inactivity will have turned the speakers OFF again at 08h.

I added the “Expresso” event. First thing we do at breakfast, is make an Expresso. I used the Smappee event “Expresso machine ON” to automatically turn ON the plug for a duration of ONE hour. (“If this” condition in Smappee: If Expresso ON then Turn On “Radio” for duration of One hour)in the kitchen (breakfast ..) then the Amplifiers is turned on.

The “Event Log” screenshot illustrates that the “Radio” switched ON event following the “Expresso” out (coffee ready in 30 seconds).

Smappee’s Brand Manifesto!

You like having control over your own life. You don ́t want to sacrifice comfort. You don ́t like wasting your own money – or valuable resources. So it ́s time to deal more consciously with our planet’s natural reserves. It ́s time for a change in behaviour. Naturally without sacrificing comfort. Everyone can do their part by reducing energy consumption. And with smappee, you’ve got everything totally under control. So you don ́t have to dramatically overturn your lifestyle. Ultimately, it entails just a small gesture. With a big win for yourself, but above all for the environment. Saving on Energy is not only good for your wallet, but also helps our Climate!